Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help young people move on from supported housing.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supported housing can play an important role for young people transitioning into independent living, particularly where they have no or limited family support, including those leaving care. It can help them to build emotional wellbeing, skills and confidence and to develop their independence ready for move on.
The Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme supports young people who are rough sleeping or at risk of homelessness into longer term supported accommodation. Once in their new home, support is provided by specialist staff to access the help they need, such as support for mental health and substance abuse problems, and support to help them into independent living as appropriate.
The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant, a consolidated rough sleeping fund aimed at tackling rough sleeping, is providing a total of £185.6 million to local authorities across England in 2025-26. Local and combined authorities have the flexibility to use the funding to provide rough sleeping services driven by local need, including to support move on.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to identify young people at risk of homelessness and provide them with appropriate support.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, including young people. We will look at these issues carefully and will consider youth homelessness as we develop our long-term, cross-government strategy working with Mayors and councils across the country, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
As announced at the Budget in October, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.
The £200 million Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP) is delivering up to 2,000 homes and accompanying support services for people with long or cyclical histories of sleeping rough. Of these, up to 650 homes will be specifically for young people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough, alongside accompanying support services.
Local authorities are expected to have regard to the homelessness code of guidance when exercising their functions relating to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, which includes young people.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to include provisions in the English Devolution Bill on improving the provision of support to low-income households to access public services.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Devolution Bill will deliver on the vision set out in the English Devolution White Paper, published in December 2024. This included a role for Strategic Authorities in convening partners and driving cross-cutting public service reform, including looking at areas such as multiple disadvantage. The Bill will be introduced to Parliament in this session, when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6378 on Multiple Occupation, whether her Department has received recent representations from local authorities on the permitted development rights for home owners seeking to covert their properties from C3 to C4 usage.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National permitted development rights allow a C3 dwellinghouse to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) with up to 6 occupants (C4) without the need for a planning application.
Local authorities have planning powers to limit any proliferation of HMOs by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction. There is no need for a local authority to seek permission from the Secretary of State before doing so.
As set out in the response to Question 6378 on 14 October, we will keep permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6378 on Multiple Occupation, what steps her Department is taking to review those rights.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National permitted development rights allow a C3 dwellinghouse to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) with up to 6 occupants (C4) without the need for a planning application.
Local authorities have planning powers to limit any proliferation of HMOs by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction. There is no need for a local authority to seek permission from the Secretary of State before doing so.
As set out in the response to Question 6378 on 14 October, we will keep permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6378 on Multiple Occupation, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effectiveness of Article 4 directions for the purposes of regulating C3 to C4 conversions.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National permitted development rights allow a C3 dwellinghouse to change use to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) with up to 6 occupants (C4) without the need for a planning application.
Local authorities have planning powers to limit any proliferation of HMOs by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction. There is no need for a local authority to seek permission from the Secretary of State before doing so.
As set out in the response to Question 6378 on 14 October, we will keep permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6378 on Multiple Occupation, what plans her Department has for the future regulation of housing in multiple occupation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities have robust powers to ensure landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) comply with all relevant regulations. This includes powers to issue civil penalties, prosecute landlords and obtain banning orders.
The Renters’ Rights Bill introduces reforms to improve the regulation of private rented sector properties, including HMOs, and drive-up standards within the sector. This includes a Decent Homes Standard and new enforcement powers for local authorities.
We will keep the regulation of HMOs under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that landlords of houses in multiple occupancy comply with all relevant regulations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities have robust powers to ensure landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) comply with all relevant regulations. This includes powers to issue civil penalties, prosecute landlords and obtain banning orders.
The Renters’ Rights Bill introduces reforms to improve the regulation of private rented sector properties, including HMOs, and drive-up standards within the sector. This includes a Decent Homes Standard and new enforcement powers for local authorities.
We will keep the regulation of HMOs under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to remove permitted development rights for property owners seeking to convert properties from use class c3 to c4.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government will keep changes to permitted development rights under review.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the terms of the financial support package given by her Department to Stoke-on-Trent City Council in February 2024 on the Council's future financial stability.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is under no illusions about the scale of the pressures that councils are facing, and is committed to providing councils with greater certainty and stability. In February 2024, Stoke-on-Trent City Council received in-principle capitalisation support of £21.7 million and £20.5 million, for financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25, under the previous Government's Exceptional Financial Support framework. Details of this support were published on gov.uk.
Under the previous Government's framework, financial support was agreed in-principle, with formal support and any associated conditions to be confirmed at a later date, subject to the outcome of an external assurance review of the council. The Government will consider the overall impact of any support provided when final decisions are taken.